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Value for Talent

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DQI Bureau
New Update

Delhi-based

Hughes Software Systems is in the thick of the war for talent. A look at its

policies to retain its star performers is startling. Quarterly staff meetings

where everyone gets to know the company’s plans and question senior

management; an adventure club which manages to get sponsors for a trip up

Friendship Peak, Himachal Pradesh; and popular awards where employees can judge

and vote on others’ leadership behavior.

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For those interested in a career in the company, HSS has a gentle way of

putting it across: a page on its Web site helps potential candidates do an

analysis vis-à-vis their potential career at HSS! So it may sound like it’s

retaining those who actually join that HSS is really interested in. But Aadesh

Goyal, VP, HSS, says, "We still have to work hard to hire the right people.

We continue to look at why are we able to attract the people that we are able to

attract. What is the current brand attraction of the company."

And on retaining staff, from time to time, HSS does surveys on relationship

development, training and organizational behavior along the company strategy. It

also conducts retention surveys of people who have stayed in the company long

enough to learn what has worked right for them. Goyal says, "The question

to be asked is how is the employee behavior changing–it is changing now and

then–and what is the market forces. What’s new, what’s changed and how we

as a company have fared."

One of the things that has worked well for HSS in building the

"right" environment is its business ethics program. This is

implemented by all Hughes companies worldwide. The focus of the program is how

to grow business ethically, both within the company and outside. All new

employees go through an ethics workshop within four weeks of joining and a

refresher program within the year. "This is a simple thing but goes a long

way to creating the right atmosphere," comments Goyal.

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A performance yardstick for all employees is based on the six values that HSS

stands for. Each employee does an assessment once in a year. They get feedback

from the supervisor and manager to raise the emphasis of goal review and

performance review when stock options are given. Then, there is the popular

awards, the purpose of which is to build culture. HSS has taken 12 leadership

behaviors. Every employee has one vote each for one behavior, for instance,

there can be the best leader, best member or best reviewer. Every employee who

gets a vote automatically gets an e-mail from the system saying, "Somebody

voted for you for being a best mentor and here’s what he has to say about

you".

Managers go through a leadership development inventory program every year.

They get feedback from supervisors, subordinates and peers. All these go to

build a "team" within the organization, as Goyal says, "This

motivates people. Peer recognition is the best recognition in the world; it is

the most credible recognition."

BK

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